Saturday, October 11, 2008

Fuzhou

is the capital and the largest prefecture-level city of Fujian , People's Republic of China. It is also referred to as Rongcheng which means "city of banyan trees."

It is the capital of the province, and is situated on the north bank of the estuary of Fujian's largest river, the , which gives access to the interior and to the neighboring provinces of Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

History

The exact foundation date of this city is not known. When to the north of Fujian was annexed by in 306 BC, a branch of the royal family of the defeated Yue fled Fujian and became the Minyue tribe.

The first city wall of Fuzhou was built in 202 BC when Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, gave permission to Wuzhu , the king of Minyue, to set up his capital in Fuzhou. The city was named Ye , meaning "The Beautiful". The name has changed many times, but the city has been continuously occupied since 202 BC and has never suffered major destruction by wars or natural disasters.

The Minyue was annexed by Han in 110 BC and became a part of China, and Fuzhou became Ye County. During the , West Lake, East Lake and numerous canals in the city were constructed .

When the Jin Dynasty collapsed, the first wave of immigrants of the gentile class arrived in Fujian . During the Tang Dynasty , it started to be called Fuzhou.

More immigrants arrived from the north starting from 892 as the Tang Dynasty was collapsing. After the Tang Dynasty fell in 907, the Wang family managed to establish a kingdom called with its capital in Fuzhou, then known as Changle. Min is still used as another name for the province of Fujian, in names of region such as minnan, and the river that runs through Fuzhou is called Min Jiang.

New city walls were built in 282 AD, 901 AD, 905 AD, and 974 AD, so the city had many layers of walls — more than the Chinese capital.

of the Song Dynasty ordered destruction of all the walls in Fuzhou in 978 AD but new walls were rebuilt later. The latest was built in 1371 AD.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, Fuzhou became more prosperous; many scholars came here to live and work. Among them were Zhu Xi , the most celebrated Chinese philosopher after Confucius, and Xin Qiji , the greatest composer of ci . After them came Marco Polo, who d the placename in as ''Fugiu'' according to Mandarin Chinese.

Hualin Temple in the original Ye city, which has been declared a national heritage site, was built in 964 AD according to documentation, but was to the 4th or 5th century AD. It is probably the oldest existing wooden structure in China.

Between 1405 and 1433 AD, the Chinese navy fleet, led by Zheng He, sailed from Fuzhou to the Indian Ocean seven times; on three occasions the fleet landed on the east coast of Africa. Before the last sailing, Zheng erected a stele dedicated to the goddess near the seaport.

In the 19th century, Lin Zexu, a native of Fuzhou, led an unsuccessful attempt to resist the British fleet at Bay, and Lin was exiled to the Russian border. At the end of the First Opium War, Fuzhou became one of the five Chinese ''treaty ports'' opened by the Treaty of Nanjing . Lin Zexu died on November 22, 1850 at age of 66.

On November 8, 1911, revolutionaries staged an uprising in Fuzhou. After an overnight street battle, the army surrendered. On November 22, 1933, the leaders of the 19th Army set up a short-lived in Fuzhou ; it collapsed in two months.

Around 1940, the army decided to invade Fuzhou. Surrounded by hills on 3 sides, the Japanese army quickly bombed and invaded the city. Japanese planes quickly bombed the only escape route for Chinese civilians- the bridges across the neighbouring river, leaving many civilians dangerously crossing the river on foot. The Japanese soon took the city and held it until Japan's surrender in 1945.

See also: Battle of Foochow

On December 13, 1993, a raging fire swept through a textile factory in Fuzhou and claimed the lives of 60 workers.

On October 2, 2005, floodwaters from Typhoon Longwang swept away a military school, killing at least 80 paramilitary officers.

Districts and counties

The administrative divisions of Fuzhou have changed frequently in history. In 1983, Fuzhou administered 5 districts and 8 counties, whose territory has not changed since then. In 1990 and 1994, Fuqing and Changle counties were promoted to county-level cities. Despite this change, the old statement of "5 districts and 8 counties" is still popular among the local people.

Economy and transportation

Main airport: Fuzhou Changle International Airport

In 1867 the port was the site of one of China's first major experiments with Western technology, when the was established; a shipyard and an arsenal were built under guidance, and a naval school was opened. A naval academy was also established at the shipyard, and it became a center for the study of European languages and technical sciences. The academy, which offered courses in English, French, engineering, and navigation, produced a generation of Western-trained officers, including the famous scholar-reformer Yan Fu .

The yard was established as part of a program to strengthen China in the wake of the country's disastrous defeat in the trading conflict known as the second Opium War . But most talented students continued to pursue a traditional Confucian education, and by the mid-1870s the government began to lose interest in the shipyard; it had trouble securing funds and declined in importance. Fuzhou remained essentially a commercial center and a port until World War II; it had relatively little industry. The port was occupied by the Japanese during 1940–45.

Since 1949, Fuzhou has grown considerably; its communications have been improved by the clearing of the for navigation by medium-sized craft upstream to Nanping. In 1956 the railway linking Fuzhou with the interior of the province and with the main was opened. The port, too, has been improved; Fuzhou itself is no longer accessible to seagoing ships, but Luoxingta anchorage and another outer harbor at Guantou on the coast of the East China Sea have been modernized and improved. The chief exports are timber, fruits, paper, and foodstuffs.

Industry is supplied with power by a grid running from the Gutian hydroelectric scheme in the mountains to the northwest. The city is a center for industrial chemicals and has food-processing, timber-working, engineering, papermaking, printing, and textile industries. A small iron and steel plant was built in 1958. In 1984 Fuzhou was designated one of China's "open" cities in the new open-door policy inviting foreign investments. Handicrafts remain important in the rural areas, and the city is famous for its lacquer and wood products.

Its GDP was ?29,318 per capita in 2007, no. 21 among 659 Chinese cities.

Culture

Fuzhou, also known as the City of Banyan after the many Banyan trees that dot the city landscape, may not be as rich in history as some other ancient Chinese cities but still boasts a fair number of historical sights.

Colleges and universities

*Fujian Normal University
*Fuzhou University
*Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
*Fujian Medical University
*Fujian College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
*Minjiang University
*Fujian University of Technology
Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.